The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-04-18
THE siNALoLA BUBBLE.

thing for c0nsumptives. Inc morning after
the first night spent in the tent by Mr.. Rowe,
one of the party hit the canvas with his
hand and the water soaked through in
Streams. Besides the constant dampness
and chill of the night behind the camp
swamp constantly exhaled its noxious vap-
ors. The Mexicans regarded the climate OF
the region as so unhealthy that the customs
Officers stationed there will not allow their
families to remain in the hot weather. All
this. however, was not known to the many
among the colonlsts who being in delicate
health sold their comfortable homes IN the
limited States and set out for the region
where many Of them were destined to be
buried.
Mr.. Rowe accompanied some Of the Maine
men to the site of the proposed Pacific City
soon after their arrival at the bay. On the
pictures in the advertising books of the
Credit Foncier, Pacific City is represented
as situated on the shore of lovely harbor.
Deep water lies directly in front of the pro-
posed town and the pictures represented
several large ships lying at anchor there.
Through four miles of the sharp, hot sand
trudged the explorers anxious to catch
glimpse of this beautiful spot. What they
found was six miles of sand, where, on the
pictures, the ships were lying. Nothing but
rocks and cactus could they see in any direc
ton. The only orange grove in that part of
Mexico is thirty-fve miles off ana is a poor
one at that. To keep the city site from be-
ing overlooked, were irrigation attempted,
would require the construction of wall
thirty miles long. Colonel Fitch the engi-
neer of the colony, told Rowe that lie
thought the site might be irrigated at an ex-
pense OF 100000 Fitch is an honest man
and he shares the opinion Of Owen held by
NJ nef xaaas ,xxrlx l.
the leader of the Credit Foncier. He SAYS
that Owen is liar and a sconndrel Besides
the absence OF orange, banana and fig trees
on the city site, even grass refuses to grow
there The cactus alone will thrive. Even
were 1t possible to irrigate the place, it
would take hard rains at frequent intervals
for period of five or six years to get the
salt out of the sand Mr.. Rowe speaks from
experience when he says that the sand is
salt, for, with his companions, he tasted it
at various parts OF the location for the town
Col. Fitch and man who acts as Owens
Interpreter are ranch owners on the Fuethe
river. They told the colonists that Owen
was fraud and that he had already broken
his contract with the Mexican government
Besides this, Fitch expressed his opinion of
Owen to that gentlemen himself, talking to
him In terms the ylgor of which was not to
be mistaken.
A RESIDENCE AT LIBERTAD.
Unable to longer endure the life at the
bay, after staying there two weeks, the
Maine party with the exception of Captain
Bunker and his family, and accompanied by
some others who had been with them in the
barque, decided to go to Libertad, where
there was another collection of settlers. This
| place is in the grant claimed by Owen, and
| is sixty miles distant from the bay Cap
tain Bunker could have gone on with the
| others had he so wished but he decided to
| try his fort fortunes a while longer at the bay
and was left behind. The women and chill
| dren were put into horse teams and sent on
| ahead, while the baggage of the party and
| the $500 pounds of provisions they were al
lowed to take were loaded into OK teams.
/ The journey of the men with the heavily
loaded teams took several days AT night, I"
said Mr.. Rowe, we bunked beneath the
carts, among the rattle snakes in the sand.
Every ten or fifteen miles we passed sugar
| plantation near which there was sometimes
| a collection of houses Cane growing and
| the manufacture of the liquor called muscal
are the principal industries of the country.
When Libertad was reached, the provis-
| ions had to be fed out to the whole settle
laent, comprising many others besides the
Maine party. At Libertad a man named
Pratt had been appointed director by Owen,
| under the serial system When the provis-
| flour, but this was stopped by Pratt. The
/ colonists were obliged to reduce even their
daily allowance of the bran mush. Finally
after sending for another lot of 1900 pounds
of flour, the party received 800 pounds, Pratt
| stealing only one-half
A SURRENDER TO THE RoUGHs
| During the residence of the party at Liber-
tad, they were visited by about 100 of Owens
henchmen armed with guns and demanding
the money belonging to the party and held
by Fletcher. Fletcher said to the crowd
who pressed forward in front Of him 81
won't give up that money until told to do so
| by the men who gave it to me-" Things
looked squally but the owners Of the money,
| who were out numbered four or five to one,
told their treasurer to give it up and Fetch
er accordingly yielded.
THE RETREAT BEGUN.
On the 18th of February the company left
Libertad and started to walk TO Saragossa
The sand was ankle deep and the little col
umn toiling through II under the rays of a
Mexican sun, made slow progress. The peo-
| pie Of the country, and especially the Amer
lean residents, were very kind, however, and
did all in their power for the fugitives. Ev-
erywhere the Mexicans greeted them with
| the same expression, I'VE are glad to see you
| but we pity YOU"
| At Apsome, town between Libertad and
| SaragoSsa, where the party stayed one night.
one of the members of the governing body
Of the State OF Sinaloa, interested himself in
| them and saw that they were made comfort
| able during their stay in his town. 1t was
| on the way to SaragOssa, also, that the party
| fell in with Maine man who acted the part
! of friend to them This was DR.. Albert b.
Stone, 2 brother to Z. M. Stone, now Of Tops
ham, DR.. Stone lives at Saragossa and prac-
tices medicine there. He visited the colony
| at Topolobampo Bay and saw the critical
condition of affairs there, He told DR..
Schelbons, Owens physician in charge,
that hospital must be built for the sick and
| that if Schelbons had no money, he would
pay the bills.
A STORMY VOYAGE.
To get back to Guaymas was now the sole
aim of the party They had made their way
| to the coast and a bargain was made with
the captain of sloop to carry them the rest
of the way. The party consisting of so per-
sons, was packed aboard the little vessel
which was SO small that all could not sleep
below deck. As they had now escaped from
Owens clutches the weather seemed to con-
spire against the colonists. The sloop had
barely begun her voyage when storm arose
which threatened to swamp the little vessel.
But while the 80 passengers were momentari-
ly expecting to sink under the waters, a
steamer hove in sight and answered their
signals of distress. Of the 80 people on
board all but nine were transferred to the
steamer. Mr. Eaton, who was too sick to
travel but had come along with the rest, as
his only chance Of life, was among those who
got ON board the large vessel. In the con-
fusion, however, the wife and nine children
of German among the party were
got on board the steamer and the
German himself was left on the
sloop. The intention was to have the
steamer tow the sloop, but the ropes broke
and the nine men were left alone in the
small boat in the midst of the storm.
The sloop with only nine passengers was
not overloaded and weathered the storm.
Said Mr.. Rowe: 1.-THE transfer of those
people saved our lives. 1t also gave us an
opportunity to crawl into the hold to sleep.
had got SO accustomed to sleeping on deck
with the water breaking over me that when
felt wave coming would raise my hand
without thinking to keep the water from
striking my face"
The sloop put into harbor for shelter
twice and then went to sea again to catch it
worse than before. For eleven DAYS the
seas tossed the boat wildly about but finally
the harbor of Guaymas was reached and the
anchor dropped in smooth water. During
this tempestuous voyage the people ON the
sloop were short .of both water and food.
They n ad chung tn the haUuaoo bnmaxvar